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Well, 2010 is almost upon us. That means that it’s time to make New Year’s Resolutions.
Whether you prefer to call them resolutions, goals, or your “bucket list” (which shouldn’t really apply here, but I’ve seen people using the term as a synonym for “New Year’s Resolutions” on Twitter lately), you probably have a list of things that you want to achieve in the New Year.
Like most people, you’ll probably give up on most of these goals before the end of January.
I probably will, too. But, in the hope that announcing my goals for the New Year publicly will make me feel accountable to my readers, here’s my list:
Read 25 (or more) books
Each year, I try to make goals in four main areas: personal, spiritual, financial, and relational. My personal growth goal, this year, is to read more.
While I’ve always been a fan of books, for the past few years, I haven’t been reading nearly as much as I used to. I want to turn this around.
My goal is to read 25 books this year. That’s about one book every two weeks, which should give me enough time to actually enjoy each book I’m reading, but still acts as a tight enough deadline that I’ll actually have to make an effort to stay on track. I’ll probably have to read for at least an hour each night in order to accomplish this goal.
As for the kind of books that I plan to read, well, I don’t really have a set plan. I’ll likely read some novels, some non-fiction books, and some poetry. My aim is to read mostly novel-length books, but there will probably be some shorter ones that make their way onto my reading list for the year, too.
As I finish a book, I’ll write up a quick blog post about it. This will help me stay on track, by making me publicly accountable, and it might help you pick out some books worth reading (and determine which ones should be avoided).
First up on my reading list: Jesus Was a Liberal: Reclaiming Christianity for All
Become more involved in my church
My spiritual goal for last year was simply to explore my personal spirituality and to try and figure out what was and was not important to me. While I can’t say that I’ve achieved that goal—it’s a lifelong process, after all—I think I’ve come pretty far in the past year.
I’ve joined a church and I’ve begun slowly developing some sort of personal theology (is it still called “theology” if you’re not sure that god is a part of it?).
My goal now is to become more involved in my church community. I’m not sure what form that will take, exactly, but I want to make the effort. Maybe this will mean doing something basic like volunteering to make coffee before and after Sunday services, or maybe it’ll be something more involved like sitting on a committee. Hell, maybe it’ll be both.
The first step toward achieving this goal will be to define it better than I currently have.
Set aside 10% of my income for savings and 10% for charity
My financial goals for last year were to build up a small savings account and to pay off my debts. While I didn’t pay off all of my debts, I have taken a big chunk out of them. If things go according to plan, they should finally be paid off this year.
It’ll be nice to be free and clear.
Beyond that, my financial goals for the year are to set aside 10% of my income to go into savings and another 10% to be donated to charity. I’m not entirely sure that I’ll be able to achieve this one—that’s 20% of my income, after all—but I figure it’s good to aim high.
I may not be able to put aside the combined 20% until my debts are paid off. But, once I do, this should be a fairly easy goal to accomplish, as long as I can keep my personal spending under control.
Don’t be such a dick all the time
My relationship goal—which applies to pretty much all of my interpersonal relationships, not just my romantic relationship—is to stop being such a huge dick all the time.
That’s pretty much it.
I’m exaggerating a bit, of course; I’m not a huge dick all of the time. But, sometimes, I can be a pretty big prick. I need to work on that. In particular, I need to work on expressing my anger and frustration in healthier ways than I currently do.
Those are my goals for 2010. Hopefully, by announcing them on the blog, I’ll feel compelled to stay on track and let you know how things are going.
What are your New Year’s Resolutions? Leave a comment or write your own blog post and link back here so that I can read it.
I still think it’s kinda adorable that you claim to be a dick. Really around me you just encourage my dickish nature and laugh along…which is why I don’t talk horrible shit about you behind your back; seriously I talk shit about everyone.
You should hear the stuff I say about Sara….man-o-man.
Nah, see, when I say that I’m a dick I don’t mean talking smack and whatever. I mean just being an outright asshole to people. I don’t think you’ve ever seen me in a genuinely bad mood. But, when I am, I take it out on people who don’t deserve it. Plus, I can be kind of a passive aggressive douche sometimes.
I don’t say this because I’m proud of it. This isn’t Bukowski talking about how much of an asshole he is because it makes him look like a tough guy. This is me saying, “Yeah, I’m not a very nice guy sometimes.”
As for what you say about Sara, I suspect it’s pretty much the same as what you say in front of her and I, except for more crude. I mean, deny it as you might, you do have some level of class when you’re around other people.
I’ve decided that I will not make any more new year’s resolutions anymore. They are just that: resolutions and in my case never come to anything. It’s like the thing I tell my dentist every year: I promise I will try to remember to floss. In other words: not going to happen.
Good luck with your resolutions (which by the way, sound quite easy to fulfill and since I only know you in blogland, even the last sounds easy!)
Happy 2010
Mara, I love the analogy about telling the dentist that you’re going to floss. I’m the same way (aren’t we all?). Hopefully, I won’t be the same way with my resolutions.
And, you’re right, I think they are pretty easy to achieve. It’s just a matter of actually sticking to them and following through.
This is a good idea : ). I made a resolution yesterday night to drop useless writing, and write usefully…here goes!
Actually, it turns out that I may be sabotaging myself by making my resolutions public. I recently read that people who make their resolutions publicly are often less likely to complete them. Something about how talking about doing something has a similar psychological effect to actually doing the thing.
I dunno. We’ll see what happens. I’m on track for most of these so far but, then again, it’s still early January.
Yeah it’s nice to have a dick as a friend though…keeps my bitchiness on track.